Drawing the layout

The left rail shows every tool directly: Select, Shape, View, Path, Curve, S-curve, Station, Connect, Zone, Polygon, Warehouse, Measure and Text. A WebGL background also adds Layers. Numeric shortcuts are printed on the buttons. Zone and annotation coordinates are collapsible; Objects searches all categories by default.

The Draw workspace builds the network the vehicles drive on: paths, stations and their roles, links, traffic zones and annotations. Every change applies immediately and can be undone; Save writes it to the project file.

Watch the videos: paths, stations, links and layout editing.

The tool rail

Tools are grouped in the rail on the left of the canvas. Numbers are keyboard shortcuts, printed on each button in the order they appear.

Press Esc to cancel a drawing in progress or a drag. Delete removes the selection. Shortcuts are ignored while you type in a text field.

Drawing paths

Straight paths

With Path, click the start point and move the cursor: a dashed preview shows the path and its length in millimetres. Click again to finish. The tool stays active, so you can draw the next path right away.

• Ortho: the Orthogonal button in the canvas toolbar (or F8) constrains each path to 0°, 90°, 180° or 270°. Holding Ctrl does the same temporarily.
• Grid: away from other paths, endpoints follow a 100 mm grid.
• Coordinates: the status bar under the canvas shows the real X/Y position of the cursor.

Curves and S-curves

Draw at least two distinct straight paths first. With Curve or S-curve, click A on one straight path and B on another: just two clicks, without placing control points. Before the second click, the dashed connector and its length are shown. Clicking off the straight paths or on the same host does not confirm the curve; Esc cancels the draft. Existing curves are not snap targets.

The app calculates both host tangents and the Bézier controls. Curve uses a quadratic when the tangent rays meet without excessively distant controls; otherwise it uses a cubic. S-curve always uses two cubic controls, also suitable for lane changes between parallel paths. Ortho does not constrain connector endpoint selection. After creation, refine C1/C2 with Edit shape.

Snapping

Straight-path endpoints and new stations snap to existing paths within 6 screen pixels, with priority to endpoints. Curve endpoints snap only to straight paths, never to other curves. A small yellow square marks the snap. Controls C1/C2 are always free: no snap, no grid, and Ortho does not constrain them; Ctrl constrains them to the axes.

How paths connect

Two paths are connected when an endpoint of one lies on the other: end to end, or end on the middle of another path (a T-junction). Paths that simply cross each other in the middle are not connected. Start new paths on the snap square to be sure they join.

Path properties

Select a path to edit it in Properties:

• Type (read-only): line, curve (quadratic Bézier) or S-curve (cubic Bézier). To change the shape, use the Edit tool.
• Travel direction: Both · A ↔ B, A to B · start → end or B to A · end → start. Arrows on the selected path show the direction. See One-way paths.
• Segment speed (cm/s): untick Use default speed to give this path its own speed.
• Blocked path: excludes the path from routing.

Stations and roles

With the Station tool, Number suggests the first available number starting at 1. Enter another positive integer and press Enter, then click a path to place the station. With 1, 2, 3 and 4, deleting 2 makes 2 the next suggestion. Choosing 1000 starts a new sequence: 1001, 1002 and so on, reusing gaps only from 1000 upwards. The sequence is saved with the project.

You can also change Number in the properties: Enter or leaving the field applies the change; Esc restores the value. Invalid or occupied numbers remain flagged and are not applied. Renumbering updates links, missions and associated settings together, starts the new sequence and can be undone in one step.

A custom Name replaces the number on the map and in mission choices; without a name, the number is shown. The number remains available in the properties. In 2D and 3D each label is a small tag touching its station, rimmed in the role colour, on the side that is free of other labels and objects; it stays put while vehicles drive past. Dense views may still have overlaps: zoom in for more space. Duplicate names are allowed and do not merge stations.

The cube in the view toolbar opens Draw in 3D. Click a station or its model to select it and edit its properties. Models chosen under 3D appearance are also visible from above in 2D. The rotation handles on the selection, or Rotation relative to path, turn the model in 90° steps: zero follows the local path tangent in its travel direction (A → B on bidirectional paths). Each step is undoable and saved with the project; it neither moves the station nor changes the AGV heading. Loads on models in Draw are previews. To create or move geometry, choose a drawing tool: the view returns to 2D automatically. Switching views does not change the project or run.

At chargers and parking stations, Initial heading from path is on by default. The AGV follows the first planned departure towards the nearest reachable pickup, or towards delivery when it loads where it starts; without an available route it follows the host path direction. To specify an angle, clear the checkbox and set AGV orientation (°). This controls the vehicle independently of model rotation.

With Station, click on or next to a path: the station snaps onto it. A station cannot exist away from a path. New stations have no role and appear as a grey dot.

Choose a preset in Station role, or combine independent checkboxes inside Combine roles. When several are ticked, the symbol shows Charger first, then Parking, then Pickup/Drop. The station inspector also has Name, AGV orientation (°) (the initial heading of an AGV starting there, in degrees counter-clockwise from +X) and the read-only ID of the path it sits on. To move a station, drag it: it slides along its path. Under Pick / drop times you can choose whether to use the fleet's Global values or Custom values for that specific station, configuring Pick duration (s) and Drop duration (s).

Selecting and editing

Select

Click an object to select it and open its properties. Select gives priority to stations and links; Alt+click selects the path underneath. When several links overlap at the clicked point, a small picker asks which one you want.

Rectangle selection

With Select, drag on an empty area:

• left → right (blue rectangle): selects objects entirely inside;
• right → left (dashed green rectangle): also selects objects crossing the rectangle.

Shift while dragging adds to the current selection; Shift+click adds or removes a single object. Stations are selected by position; labels and the CAD background are never selected.

Moving objects

Drag any highlighted object to move the whole selection. Ctrl constrains the move to one axis, Esc cancels it. The multiple-selection inspector also accepts a numeric Offset and offers Delete selection.

• Paths carry their stations with them.
• Moving a link also moves its paths and attached stations.
• A station selected without its path slides along its own path.
• Unselected neighbouring paths stay in place: check the links at the boundary afterwards.

Copy and paste

Select paths, curves, stations, links, zones or annotations and press Ctrl+C. With Ctrl+V, as in CAD programs:

1. choose the base point on the copied objects, shown dashed at their original position: it snaps to path ends and vertices, stations and zone corners. Enter uses the lower-left corner of the copy;
2. choose the insertion point: the copy follows the pointer with the same snapping as drawing, and the tooltip shows the displacement. Ctrl/Ortho constrain the displacement to one axis;
3. the click pastes the copy in one undo step and selects it; Esc cancels.

• A straight path pastes anywhere.
• A curve keeps the drawing rules: each end on a straight path, never on another curve, and the two ends on different paths. When the copy includes its straight paths, the curve follows them; otherwise each end must land on an existing straight path, within snapping distance, and is placed exactly on it. Until then the preview is red and the tooltip says why.
• A station copied without its path is pasted onto the path under its new position, as with the Station tool.
• Pasted stations get new numbers: the first free one after the highest copied, skipping those in use (copying 3 and 7 with 8 already taken gives 9 and 10). They keep their roles, custom name, 3D model and allowed fleets.
• Paths, links, zones and annotations get the first free number; references inside the copy (station → path, link → stations and paths, zones required by links) point to the new objects.
• A link is copied only with both its stations and all its paths. Warehouses are not copied: use Duplicate in their panel.

The copy goes through the system clipboard, so you can also paste it into another open project. In text fields Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V keep working on the text.

Edit: reshaping paths

With Edit shape (2) you select path geometry directly, even under stations and links. A line shows its A/B handles; a curve also shows C1/C2.

• Drag the body of the path to move it together with its stations; attached endpoints of neighbouring paths follow the junction.
• Drag A or B to move an endpoint: light 6 px snapping, no grid, Ctrl/Ortho constrain the axis. Curve endpoints snap only to straight paths and change only the selected curve, even when another curve has a coincident endpoint. Moving a straight host still carries its connected endpoints.
• Drag C1 or C2 to change the curvature. They are free; Ctrl constrains C1 relative to A and C2 relative to B.
• The preview updates live; releasing the mouse commits one history step; Esc cancels.

Stations on an edited path follow its new shape. Crossings in the middle of paths are not re-evaluated automatically: after a large edit, check that links still resolve.

Parametric racking

Choose Warehouse and click the beginning and end of the aisle on the same straight path. Like stations, both points snap onto the path and its ends; the first stays fixed and the aisle rounds to whole columns, with the column count and length in the tooltip. With a VNA truck or forklift fleet, cell pitch and depth already follow its pallet. Between the clicks the preview shows rack footprints and physical stops; the second click creates the aisle in one undo step and selects it, so it stays selectable even if you have not finished configuring it. Its ends are marked A and B, filled when connected; the arrow fixes numbering and left/right. Set name, sides, Positions per side, Pallets per bay, pitch, depth, offset and levels. The bays follow: 12 positions with 3 pallets per bay make 4 bays; with 11 the last one, towards B, holds 2. Uprights stand between the bays, in the plan and in 3D; the pitch stays that of one position and cells keep their numbers. Below the fields a line sums up the bays and the aisle width. The Type becomes VNA racking when an AGV forklift cannot turn in the aisle with its pallet; otherwise AGV forklifts serve it too (see AGV forklifts in racking). Level heights generates uniform heights from the first level with the chosen spacing, then lets you edit each height.

Drag one of its racks to move an applied warehouse: it slides along its path in 50 mm steps, catches on the path ends and never leaves the path; a click without dragging selects the cell. When selected it shows the End A and End B handles on the path: drag B to add or remove single positions, so the last bay grows or shrinks, and A to add or remove whole bays, so the uprights of the others stay where they are; the other end stays put. Blocked cells and initial stock keep their physical place. Each drag is one undo step and Escape cancels it; overlapping another warehouse is refused.

With a VNA truck or AGV forklift fleet, the panel shows the racking pallet as aisle face × depth: the VNA trucks' when there are any, otherwise the AGV forklifts'. Fit to pallet sets the pitch to the face plus 100 mm and the depth to the pallet depth minus 100 mm, reducing the positions if the aisle would no longer fit on its path; apply the warehouse to keep it. Stored pallets are drawn with the same orientation in the plan and in 3D.

In Entries and exits, choose for each end the external station it connects to, or Closed; a connected end also shows what it Allows: entry and exit, entry only or exit only. The line below the fields sums up where vehicles get in and out. With a single connected end the aisle is a dead end and requires a return permitted by the path and existing links. For a through aisle, connect A with Entry only and B with Exit only: the vehicle serves the cell and continues towards B without returning. Leave room outside for waiting and complete vehicle exit. Apply warehouse confirms the panel's changes to the whole aisle in one undo step. Invalid heights, an overlong aisle or overlapping racks prevent confirmation; unapplied changes block saving. Cancel or Escape discards the preview. A drawn or duplicated aisle that does not fit, for example because it overlaps other racks, stays a draft to fix or cancel and is discarded when you select something else.

Duplicate creates an independent aisle right after the original on the same path; without room there it stays a draft to place on a suitable straight path. Delete removes the whole aisle and its initial inventory/flow references; undo restores them. Moving or rotating the host moves its racks. Before deleting or converting the host to a curve, delete the aisle or choose a different straight path in its properties.

Open Initial inventory to see the virtualized rack elevation; Structure and Entries and exits open separately and Apply warehouse stays reachable. Select a side, search by location code and click a cell; the plan highlights its column. Ctrl/⌘ or Shift selects multiple cells. Fill/Clear change initial stock. Block/Unblock prepare a geometry change to confirm with Apply warehouse; blocked cells cannot hold initial stock or receive orders. Replace stock replaces stock with the specified percentage, deterministically spread across usable cells; manual corrections update the displayed percentage.

A column has one physical AGV stop shared by sides and levels: 40 columns × 6 levels × 2 sides give 480 logical cells and 40 service stops. Renaming preserves identities. The Objects tab includes Warehouses and searches their names or IDs.

Floor stacks and drive-in racks

While the Warehouse tool is active, the map toolbar shows the kind to draw: Racking, Floor stack or Drive-in. Both new kinds are served by AGV forklifts and work LIFO: each lane fills from its deepest position towards the mouth, and a retrieval always takes the last pallet stored.

Floor stack. Press beside a straight path and drag: the rectangle aligns with the nearest path, on the side you drag towards, and rounds to whole lanes and positions; the message shows how many. The area's face is never drawn closer to the path than the room the AGV forklifts need to turn with a pallet. Lanes run across the path; in front of each there is a generated stop where the AGV turns and backs in. Pallets stand on one another: Stacked pallets and Unit height (of a loaded pallet) set the number and spacing of the levels, always bottom up. When selected, a floor stack slides along its path when dragged, gains or loses lanes with the End A and End B handles and positions with the handle on its back edge.

Lane order. In a floor stack, Fill from and Empty from choose the side of the plan where stores and retrievals start: Left or Right, or Bottom or Top when the path is vertical. Stores fill the first lane from that side that still has room, then the next; retrievals empty the first lane from that side that has pallets. If that lane is already taken by another mission, the order waits instead of moving to another lane, so the order is kept. With Automatic (the default) every order takes the lane nearest the exchange station.

Drive-in. First draw the lane's path, a straight path that starts from the service aisle and ends in a dead end. Then, with the Drive-in kind, click the mouth and the back on that path: the drive-in rounds to whole positions from the mouth. The AGV turns at the path's end on the mouth side and backs in; the stretch between that end and the mouth is its manoeuvre space. A drive-in takes its path for itself, no other path may start from its back and no station may stand inside it. Set the positions, the position depth, the Clear width between uprights, the rail heights (level 0 is the floor) and the Level order: each position fills bottom up or top down.

Fit to pallet sizes lanes and positions for the AGV forklifts' pallet: in a floor stack 100 mm each side between stacks and 50 mm between pallets in depth; in a drive-in the pallet bears 50 mm on each rail and keeps 30 mm from the uprights. The kind can be changed in the panel: the new structure uses the same stretch of path and is applied like any edit.

In Initial inventory the plan shows the lanes as columns, with the back at the top and the mouth at the bottom; each position shows how many levels are occupied. Select a position and choose Pallets at this position: deeper positions fill up and those towards the mouth empty, so the lane always stays compact. Fill lane, Empty lane and, in a floor stack, Block lane complete the edits; Replace stock spreads the percentage evenly over the lanes, each filled from the back; in a floor stack with Fill from set it fills the lanes one after another from that side instead.

Finding objects

The Objects tab lists Paths, Stations, Links, Zones and Annotations. Search by ID or name (for links also by source or destination) and click a result to select it and open its properties; Shift+click adds it to the selection. The list shows the first 80 matches.

Choose Links as the object type to find Delete all links: it removes every link in the layout, including those excluded by the search or not yet shown. Paths and stations remain. One Undo (Ctrl+Z) restores all links.

Checking the network

The Network tab, in both Draw and Simulate, checks the drawing after every change without altering the project. A dot on the tab tells the state at a glance: green when nothing needs attention, amber for warnings, red for errors. Selecting a finding highlights its position on the map with a ring and centres the view on it; errors are red, warnings dashed, and the selected finding is drawn thicker.

• Separate parts. Groups of paths that do not touch the rest of the network, with the stations they hold.
• Ends that stop short. A path end within 30 cm of another path but not joined to it: most likely a missing connection. With links, existing links stay valid, so these are only notes.
• Stations and roles. A station not on any path; a pickup from which no drop-off can be reached; a drop-off that no pickup reaches; a charger or parking location from which no pickup can be reached, or that no drop-off can reach.
• Links. A link whose route can no longer be rebuilt, and the Pick → Drop pairs of the scenario that the drawn paths connect but no link does (with at least one link, routes follow only the links).
• Unavoidable stations. A station is unavoidable when, for some trip a vehicle makes (pickup to drop-off, on to the next pickup, back to a charger or parking and out again), every route to the destination drives over it. Nothing can then keep it out of the route calculation, and the finding suggests moving it to a side stretch or drawing an alternative path. With links it also says when the drawn network has a way round that no link follows.
• Two-way lanes at risk. A lane is a run of joined two-way paths that the scenario's trips (the same as above) drive in both directions. It has nowhere for two vehicles to pass, so two AGVs that meet in it head-on block each other for good. The warning appears when the fleet has at least two AGVs and no exclusive zone holds the whole lane, counting the vehicle clearance around the zone as the simulation does. Spurs that lead only to one charger or parking place are left out, because that place is reserved for one AGV. Automatic traffic in Scenario tests these lanes with doubled demand and proposes a zone only when it is needed (see Optimize traffic).
• Chargers against a zone. An exclusive zone is held by the vehicle whose footprint touches it. A charger or parking place closer to its edge than half the diagonal of the largest vehicle (shown in millimetres in the finding) is a problem: the AGV parked there can reach into the zone and hold it, so no other vehicle can enter it, and in Movements it reports that it holds the zone. Move the station away from the zone or shrink the zone on that side. Automatic traffic never proposes such a zone.

Findings that do not prevent simulating are notes, kept collapsed. Errors and warnings are listed first.

Avoid stations as pass-through points

By default a route may drive over any station on its way, and a vehicle waiting or working there then holds up the ones passing through. In Scenario → Orders → Advanced routing, Avoid as pass-through points lets you choose Pick / Drop stations, Chargers and Parking locations. With an option on, a route first minimizes how many stations of that kind it drives over, and only then its time: such a station is crossed only when every other way crosses at least as many. A route's own start and destination never count. The option applies to routes over links (both a link's path and a chain of links through a station) and to routes on the drawn paths, for every fleet. It changes the scenario, so the simulation restarts. The Network tab lists unavoidable stations in its findings.

Measurements and text

The Annotate group adds information that stays on the plan but never takes part in routing, snapping or traffic.

• Measure: click two points. The distance stays drawn on the plan in mm or metres. Ortho and Ctrl constrain the second point to the nearest axis; coordinates are never rounded to the grid.
• Text: click where the text goes, then edit it in Properties: text (multi-line), size in mm, font (sans serif, serif, monospace), bold, italic and colour.

After creating an annotation the tool returns to Select. Drag annotations to move them, drag the endpoints of a measurement to change it, and press Delete to remove them. Annotations are saved in the project and remain visible in Simulate. Moving or scaling the CAD background does not move them.

3D library and environment

The 3D library tool dresses the plant with scene items, so the 3D view and the plan show a real building around the network. They are presentation only: routing, snapping, traffic, the run and its results never read them, and adding, moving or deleting one never restarts a simulation. They are saved in the project and stay visible in Simulate, in 2D and in 3D.

The library opens beside the tool rail. Choose a category in its list and click a card to arm it, or drag the card onto the plan or the 3D view and release it where the item goes; the panel stays open to switch item, folds to its heading with the arrow button, and closes with × or Esc (the first Esc stops placing, the second closes the library). The library stays open when you switch to the 3D view, where objects and openings are placed with a click or a drop; walls and floors are drawn on the plan.

• Objects: click where the item goes, or drop its card there; it is placed on a 50 mm grid and selected, and the tool stays armed for the next one. R turns the item about to be placed by 90°, Shift+R by 15°. The thick edge of the preview is the front, where an operator works.
• Walls: press where the wall starts, drag to where it ends and release; a tooltip shows its length. Pressing on the free end of a wall of the same type, that is the same material, colour and band (a square marks it), continues that wall, and releasing on its other end closes it into a loop; elsewhere a new wall starts. Ends snap to free wall ends, to a 10 mm grid and to the vertices of other walls and floors; Ortho and Ctrl keep the run horizontal or vertical. You can also click the points one by one: Enter, a double click or a click on the last point finishes the wall, a click on the first point closes it, Backspace removes the last point. With a wall card chosen, New walls under the cards sets the height, thickness, colour (for painted masonry) and Bottom band with its colour and height that new walls of that type get, for example 2700 mm for every painted wall; they are saved in the project, each type has its own, and the reset button beside the title returns to the type's own values.
• Openings: with a window or door card, click a solid wall, or drop the card on it, in 2D or 3D. The opening is centred where you point, on a 50 mm step, kept inside the straight part of the run and away from other openings; its height adapts to the wall, leaving a lintel. Where two walls stand on the same line (a plinth under cladding), it goes into the one where it fits at full size. A personnel door, a double panic door, a high-speed door and a loading dock have an inner side (the leaf, the panic push bars with the exit sign, the roll box, the leveller with its control box and light; the leaves of the panic door open towards the other side, the way people escape): it goes on the side of the wall you click from in 2D, or look from in 3D, and the arrows button in Openings turns it to the other side. In plan a window shows its glass, a personnel door its leaf and swing, a panic door its two leaves and their swings, a loading dock its leveller inside and its shelter outside, the other doors a dashed line; in 3D the wall is pierced, with frames, glass, door panels and hazard strips, and nothing rises above the wall. In the 3D view of Simulate, the leaf of a sectional door or a loading dock rolls up behind the head when a vehicle is about to drive through it and comes down again a couple of seconds after the last one has passed; a vehicle driving along the wall without going through leaves it closed; the curtain of a high-speed door, closed until someone comes, does the same in under a second and leaves its bottom edge in sight under the roll box: it is only how the door looks, and no route, wait or result depends on it. Openings go only into solid walls: glazing, fences and barriers have none.
• Floors: drag a rectangle, or click the vertices of any simple shape and close on the first one or press Enter.

With Select drag an object or a wall to move it (its openings move with it); a floor moves once it is selected, so a press on it can still start a selection rectangle. Paths, stations and links on top keep the pointer. Drag the vertices of walls and floors to reshape them, the handle of each opening of a selected wall to slide it along its run, and the front-end handle of stretchable items (lines, conveyors, racking, shelving) to change their length. A selected object shows ±90° buttons (Shift-click for 15°) and R turns it. Properties holds the material, height and thickness of a wall, the colour of painted masonry (applied when the palette closes, as one undoable change), the Bottom band with its colour and height, available for every wall type, and its Openings (type, width, height and sill of each, a button to turn a door or a dock to the other side, a button to remove it, and Add an opening…, which puts the chosen kind where the wall has room), the finish of a floor, and the model, rotation and length of an object, with Duplicate and Delete item. The industrial robot, the robot cell and the palletiser also have Animation, on to begin with: while a run goes on, the robot repeats a pick-and-place cycle in the 3D view, and it stands still in pause and in Draw; clear the box to keep it still. Scene items take part in rectangle selection, group moves, copy and paste and undo; the Objects panel lists them under Environment. In the 3D view of Draw, click an item to select it.

All items are at real size and are built in the app, with no files to download. When the plan scale changes with Scale paths and stations too, their positions and outlines follow it while heights, thicknesses and object and opening sizes stay; an opening that would no longer fit its wall stops the change with the reason. A loading dock placed against a solid wall in an earlier version becomes an opening of that wall when the project is opened, with its leveller on the same side. The bottom band is painted on both faces of a solid wall, opening reveals included; on glazing, fences and barriers it is a solid panel at the foot (under the glass, under the mesh, between the posts). In plan a band edges the wall's faces in its colour. In 3D, solid walls at least 1.5 m tall turn see-through while they stand between the camera and the point it looks at, so the plant stays visible from every side; a selected wall stays solid. Ctrl+Shift+wheel cuts away what is nearest to the camera.

Undo, redo and cancelling

• Every completed gesture (a path, a drag, a property change) is one undo step: Ctrl+Z and Ctrl+Y.
• Previews are never recorded: Esc cancels the gesture in progress without leaving traces.
• An invalid value typed in a property stays visible and blocks Save until you correct it or press Esc.